Weegy: Walter Raushenbush was a figure who lived one hundred years ago. He was an evangelical. He came from seven generations of pastors. Basically the way his conversion happened is that he left seminary. He could have worked anywhere. [ He took a small church in Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, back when “Hell’s Kitchen” meant something! He got converted by the experience of the poverty of his congregation. He said, “It just broke my heart how many children’s funerals I had to do. The boxes with the babies in them.” And that was his moment where he realized the Gospel has to say something to these babies if it is to say something at all. So he went back to the Bible and realized that it was both about personal spiritual redemption, but also about social redemption. Throughout my life I’ve been kind of also going back and forth between these two very important elements of what it means to be spiritual, what it means to be a religious person. It has to say something to your individual heart, but it also has to do something for the world around us. So that’s been a big part of my journey, Walter Raushenbush’s inspiration. I don’t claim to live up to his standard but certainly bringing that message of wholeness. ] (More)